Australians eligible for the fourth vaccination dose

After the country’s main immunisation organisation expanded access, millions more Australians are now eligible for a fourth coronavirus vaccination dosage.

Australians with malignancies, diabetes, chronic lung and liver illness, or a handicap, according to the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI), will be eligible for a winter COVID-19 booster vaccination.

The decision, which would allow more than 1.5 million people to obtain a fourth vaccination dosage starting May 30, comes ahead of a predicted COVID-19 infection spike this winter.

Previously, the fourth dosage was only available to persons aged 65 and up, critically immunocompromised people, Indigenous Australians aged 50 and up, and those in elderly or disability care.

The expansion, according to Katy Gallagher, acting health minister in the future government’s interim ministry, will “restrict or safeguard people who could have a serious condition.”

The ATAGI, on the other hand, does not propose a fourth booster for the entire population.
“The goal of broadening the criterion was to safeguard patients who are most at risk of serious illness, the worst end of COVID-19,” Gallagher explained to reporters.

“It is based on evidence that it has not been extended more widely among the general population.”
More than 46,000 new coronavirus infections were announced in Australia on Thursday, with more than 70 deaths.